Marked rim bottle closure



Feb. 18, 1964 s TAYLOR ETAL 3,121,505

MARKED RIM BOTTLE CLOSURE Filed Dec. 11, 1958 -sEAL .S'L/DEABLE o/v 1 25 3.

RIM FOR amass suppom 47' TIME 1 OF EMBOSS/NG) ARTHUR SINCLAIR 7I4YLOR, W/L L lflM PETER KO/VAZEWSKI,

A T TOR/VEX United States Patent 3,121,565 MARKEB RKM BQ'E'ELE CLGfiURE Arthur Sinclair Taylor, Spring Valley, and William leter Konazewski, Pearl River, N.Y., assignors to American Cyannmid Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation or Maine Filed Dec. 1 1958, Ser. No. 779,688 3 Qiaims. (Cl. 215--38) This invention relates to a bottle having a marked closure consisting of a seal retaining an elastic closure, which seal has identification markings stamped in or embossed in the rim thereof.

This application is a continuation-impart of copending application Serial No. 501,134, April 13, 1955, entitled Method and Machine for Marking Bottle Closures, now United States Patent No. 2,891,468, dated June 23, 1958.

In many types of manufacturing operations, particularly in pharmaceutical laboratories, the problem of identifying bottles and their contents is of importance. At times in handling materials which are toxic, or for the treatment or alleviation of disease, it is absolutely essential that the contents be exactly as indicated. In the manufacture of many pharmaceuticals there is a question at the time of manufacture as to What is to be placed on the label. The same vial may move in commerce in any of several different countries so that different languages are desired on ie label as sold. It is therefore desirable to be able to make a fairly large production run of a particular material, and postpone the labelling until a decision is made as to the country of distribution. This delay increases the chances of errors. Further, labels once applied sometimes wash off or are otherwise mutilated, so that the contents of a bottle may be in question. It is desirable to be able to mark on the bottle in such a fashion that once filled there is no chance for error. A permanent uon-alterable marking reduces counterfeiting and markedly simplifies problems of control.

In pharmaceutical practice it is quite customary to use what are known as seals, usually aluminum seals, which are small retaining rings of aluminum or caps of aluminum, which hold an elastic closure such as a rubber stopper in a bottle and are crimped underneath the rim on the bottle so as to permanently hold the stopper in position. Sometimes a flat elastic disk is held in position by the seal, without a plug portion extending into the neck of the bottle. Other materials may be used as a substitute, but aluminum is the material of construction which has met with commercial acceptance at present because of its economic availability and ease of handling. The present invention is particularly satisfactory with aluminum seals, but is not limited thereto.

If the seal is marked before being placed on the bottle, here is always doubt as to whether or not too many were marked, and whether the right seal was placed on the right bottle at the right time. Premarking is particularly confusing where the seals are being crimped by automatic machinery and two or three seals may be retained in the feeding mechanism when batches are changed. The first bottle or two of the new run may be closed with seals which had been intended for a preceding run.

In the past attempts have been made to mark containers on the edges or rims thereof with identifying niches. A patent to Huntley, 2,316,517, discloses a method of marking the rims on cans with niches which are coded to give the date of sealing when compared with a master guide.

The present invention relates to a seal closure on a glass bottle marked in such a fashion that the identifying 2 indicia appear on the rim of the seal. The identifying indicia are preferably letters and numbers embossed in the metal or other seal material. Such information as lot numbers, source, expiration dates, code number and code letters or other marks may be included in the groups of information present in the indicia.

Such marking can be used with one-piece aluminum seals, two-piece aluminum seals or three-piece aluminum seals, all of which are well known in the industry, and are referred to generally hereafter as seals.

To be acceptable the indicia must be marked in the seal in such fashion that the rim of the seal is not wrinkled or crumpled. In production runs the size of the seal will vary slightly and the size of the neck of the bottle will vary slightly so that there has to be a certain amount of clearance between the inside of the seal and the outside of the bottle rim at the time of the application of the seal. The seal is pressed down on the bottle and crimped underneath the rim. Even though crimped, and even though at first glance it would appear that the seal is firmly in position, we have discovered that the seal will slide sli htly on the bottle, so that for proper marking it is necessary that the bottle be pressed against the type in such a fashion that the seal may slide slightly. The glas rim of the bottle thus serves as a backing memher for the seal at the point of contact with the type. Otherwise, if the pressure is brought to bear on the seal itself, as is customary in marking cans, the seal will be crumpled and an unattractive appearance is given to the finished article.

Crumpling is prevented by using a drive wheel to support the bottle against the type, which drive wheel conacts the bottle below the seal. Preferably, the drive wheel contacts the neck of the bottle just below the seal so that not only is lateral support given to hold the bottle against the type, but also vertical support is given to the lower part of the seal by the top of the drive wheel so that tilting or angular displacement of the bottle is minimized. Other guide members may also be used, but a drive wheel which is in close contact with the bottom of the seal and the neck of the bottle, and which holds the bottle against the type and against an upper pressure plate, furnishes sufficient support for small bottles in passing through the marking machine.

in pharmaceutical practice it is customary to use various different sizes of bottles. The bottles, frequently called vials, in the smaller sizes, may vary from a capacity of around 5 milliliters or less to 500 milliliters or more.

A machine for marking the present rims has been devised and is disclosed in detail in said Patent 2,891,468.

A view of certain of the bottle and seal contacting elements of one marking machine is shown in the appended drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a View in partial section showing an enlarged portion of a closed vial, and the relationship of the glass bottle 45, the seal as, and a rubber stopper 47.

FIGURE 2 shows the type holder and the relationship of the bottles thereto and the type in the type holder during the marking operation.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view showing the relationship of the drive wheel, the pressure plate and the marking type.

Bottles 45 are closed by a rubber stopper 47, and the stopper is held in place by a seal 4-6, which may be a conventional aluminum seal such as shown in US. Patent 2,734,649, Callahan et al., Moistureproof Vial Closure.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the seal 4-6 is spaced slightly from the cylindrical face of the glass rim on the bottle. If the seal is held in place, and the seal is embossed with marking type, the seal is disfigured. In accordance with this invention, the seal slides on the bottle rim, so that the seal is supported by the rim at the location of contact with the marking type, and hence is embossed without deformation.

One convenientrnethod of embossing is to support the bottle between a rotating plate 21, and a pressure plate 33, which is attached to a head plate 28. The pressure plate may be pressed slightly away from the head plate 28 by the pressure plate screw 34, which causes the pressure plate to be brought down into an adjustable relationship with the type and drive wheel to allow for small variations in the height of the bottles and to insure that the type marks the rim of the seal 46 at the desired location.

Around one side of the periphery of the head plate is a type holder segment 35. Attached to the under side of the type holder segment is the bottle guide 3'7. The bottle guide is arcuate in shape with ramps at each end. The bottle guide has slots cut therein in which movable type bars 3 8 are placed. The type are held in position by a type retainer 39. The type retainer is attached to the bottle guide by the type retainer screws 40.

In operation the type retainer screws 49 may be removed, releasing the type retainer 39 and the movable type 38 may then be changed. The type are of a uniform' length so that the marking ends of the type extend slightly beyond the inner surface of the bottle guide 37, and mark on the periphery of the seal as it rolls over the bottle guide 37. The bottle guide contacts the outer surface of the seal. The drive wheel 27 contacts the bottle just betneath the seal as shown in FIGURE 3, and as the bottle moves between the bottle guide and the drive Wheel it is caused to rotate and is pressed firmly against the type. The drive wheel contacts the surface of the glass just underneath the seal and iholds the seal up against the pressure plate 33, thereby fixing it as to height, and causing it to rotate.

Variations and modifications in the exact form of the seal will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. Such modification and changes are part of the present invention as set forth in the following claims.

We claim:

1. A container comprising a glass bottle, an integral annular rim with a cylindrical outer surface on said bottle, a resilient member closing said bottle, a seal of deformable material having a cylindrical periphery surrounding the resilient member and the rim, said seal overlying the resilient member and extending under and being crimped under the rim thereby retaining the resilient member in the bottle, said seal being slightly larger than said rim and slideable on the rim of the bottle so that the periphery of the seal is supported by glass during an embossing operation, and identifying indicia embossed into the cylindrical periphery of said seal, Without distortion of the seal.

2. A container comprising a glass bottle, an integral annular rim with a cylindrical outer surface on said bottle, a resilient stopper inserted in and closing said bottle, a seal of deformable material having a cylindrical periphery surrounding the resilient stopper and the rim, said seal overlying the stopper and extending under and being criznped under the rim thereby retaining the stopper in the bottle, said seal being slightly larger than said rim and slideable on the rim of the bottle so that the periphery of the seal is supported by glass durin an embossing operation, and identifying indicia embossed into the cylindrical periphery of said seal, Without distortion of the seal.

3. A container comprising a glass bottle, an integral annular rim with a cylindrical outer surface on said bottle, a resilient stopper inserted in and closing said bottle, an aluminum seal having a cylindrical periphery surrouding the resilient stopper and the rim, said seal overlying the stopper and extending under and being crim-ped under the rim thereby retaining the stopper in the bottle, said seal being slightly larger than said rim and slideable on the rim of the bottle so that the periphery of the seal is supported by glass during an embossing operation, and identifying indicia embossed into the cylindrical periphery of said seal, without distortion of the seal.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,042,357 Ostry May 26, 1936 2,079,545 Bu gh May 4, 1937 2,665,024 Putz Ian. 5, 1954 2,881,934 Rhodes Apr. 14, 1959 

1. A CONTAINER COMPRISING A GLASS BOTTLE, AN INTEGRAL ANNULAR RIM WITH A CYLINDRICAL OUTER SURFACE ON SAID BOTTLE, A RESILIENT MEMBER CLOSING SAID BOTTLE, A SEAL OF DEFORMABLE MATERIAL HAVING A CYLINDRICAL PERIPHERY SURROUNDING THE RESILIENT MEMBER AND THE RIM, SAID SEAL OVERLYING THE RESILIENT MEMBER AND EXTENDING UNDER AND BEING CRIMPED UNDER THE RIM THEREBY RETAINING THE RESILIENT MEMBER IN THE BOTTLE, SAID SEAL BEING SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN SAID RIM AND SLIDEABLE ON THE RIM OF THE BOTTLE SO THAT THE PERIPHERY OF THE SEAL IS SUPPORTED BY GLASS DURING AN EMBOSSING OPERATION, AND IDENTIFYING INDICIA EMBOSSED INTO THE CYLINDRICAL PERIPHERY OF SAID SEAL, WITHOUT DISTORTION OF THE SEAL. 